I completed the fiber page for my spindle spun Ramie top fiber from Hearthside fibers. Ramie was pleasant to spin and has a cottony feel but with a long staple length. I experimented with three and four ply yarns.
Fiber Page: Ramie
Hot
My outside vegetable garden didn’t happen this year. I started basil and bell peppers inside, then waited to plant because a friend planted outside too soon and their peppers all died. Then it got hot (it’s Texas y’all), and the raised bed needed an overhaul because it isn’t draining, which is a yucky job in the heat. So now it is September and my peppers and basil are still in the window. The pepper leaves are a rich dark green and the plant is fruiting. What is pollinating them inside? I’ve actually had more fruit set inside than outside. Hm.
The seeds I started were labeled Bell Pepper Carnival Mix, and I am getting some different colors: red, green, purple. The peppers are quite small, probably because they are still in their starter pots. We picked and ate the pepper pictured above and were surprised at the heat, not like a bell pepper at all. It also is shaped more like a fresno pepper. So I’m wondering if my Carnival mix was a pepper mix rather than a bell pepper mix, or if smaller fruit from restricted growing conditions makes for a hotter pepper. Hm.
Dishwasher magnet
The problem with multiple parallel projects is sometimes bits get buried and I forget I have a work in progress. That happened with the dishwasher signs that I made with my folks’ laser cutter. I brought the parts home then got distracted. It happens. I found the parts again, realized I had everything I needed to complete it, I just had to make the magnet hole a little larger.
After fixing the magnet to the middle of the center layer, I could then glue all three layers together: the sign, the magnet layer, and the laser cut felt. To make sure everything set tight, after brushing on the wood glue and assembling, I wrapped the magnet in wax paper and clamped it in a book press to dry.
To finish and protect the wood, I used Howard’s Feed-n-Wax.
Throwback Thursday: silver clay
In April of 2009 I made one of my favorite metal clay jewelry sets. Metal clay is fine particles of silver suspended in a medium to make it workable like clay. It is then fired in a kiln to burn off the organics leaving nearly pure silver in the slightly smaller shaped form, all without forging or soldering.
The metal clay does give options for designs that are difficult to achieve with traditional gold smithing tools, but requires its own set of specialty tools like the kiln.
Caking yarn
Because of the bulk and quantity of yarn I produced on the Ashford Traveller spinning wheel, I decided to let time set the twist rather than do a wet block. Setting the twist in freshly spun yarn gives a more balanced yarn which doesn’t kink up when slack, making it easier to work with be it knitting, crochet, or weaving. A quick way to set to twist is to get the yarn wet and let it dry (there are many variations, but it boils down to this). Time will also set the twist; sitting under tension for a while lets the fibers relax and accept their formation.
I did not have to transfer the yarn to a niddy noddy, I could have wound it directly to a cake, but I wanted to see it in skein form. It was an overfull skein, though, so wasn’t as pretty, but I wasn’t willing to cut the yarn, or make a bigger skein. Oh well. I wound it all into cakes using a Royal New Wool Winder.
I have many projects that need completing before I can get to this yarn, so it has some time to sit and settle. It is all queued up though, with the needles and the knitting plan in the bag with the yarn cakes.
Critters and Craft 